On principle, I despise blink-and-you’ll-miss-it brief, nearly information-free teasers. Unfortunately, they’re also almost exclusively the chosen language of triple-A publishers these days – at least until they open the floodgates on enough footage to spoil the entire game a month before it comes out. I would, however, be remiss if I didn’t mention that a) Battlefield 4 very clearly exists and b) year of the boat (the previously discussed year of the bow successor) sails ever onward, major franchises crashing against its monolithic hull like brittle kiddie pool waves. Watch both of the thus-far released (ugh, argh, grr, bleh) teasers after the break and pluck delicious, delicious proof from the pudding.

PREPARE 4 BATTLE. AND MAKE IT DOUBLE.

Wait, wrong thing. But anyway, yes, that’s the real slogan, and no, I haven’t mailed a package of refrigerator magnets and a message that reads “please for the love of god try again” to EA’s marketing team yet, but I’m considering it.

Also, in case you were worried, Battlefield 4 has land, too! Tanks roam it in graceful herds, sipping from watering holes and defending their young, as they often do. Meanwhile, using my extremely mysterious and alluring brand of prophetic voodoo, I can nearly 100 percent guarantee that a third teaser entitled “Air” will be along any second now. It will feature planes and be brought to you by the incorrectly used number four. HOW DOES HE DO IT? WOOOOooooOOOOooooOOOO.

I’m sorry. I’ll stop shouting and derisively ghost wailing now. At any rate, the grand unveiling is coming on March 26th, and RPS will be there to hunt whomever devised this silly teaser scheme like an anima– I mean report on it or whatever.

I made a promise to myself: never EVER fall in the EA’s trap again. I’ve skipped BF3 and I will skip BF4. I admint I’d love to play BF3, of course (it looks awesome) but I’ve stopped throwing my dollars at that company. They are just horrible and don’t deserve my hardly earned money.

Sadly, Simcity5 was an obvious failure way long before shipping. I can’t believe how many people wastd their money with a preorderd. I mean… how can you decide to give money in advance to EA? I could understand for some small indie companies, or a niche kickstarter project… But EA? No way.

WTB Tank breeding game, where you maintain your very own graceful herd of kawaii styled tanks, as they migrate across the veldt, gathering at waterdiesal holes to exchange tanky genes with other NPC tank herds.

I really liked 3, but I never felt like I got my money’s worth from it. I don’t think I have the time for multiplayer shootyguns these days. Hence I think I’ll skip 4. Especially if it’s exactly the same setting.

Because it fits in with DICE’s masterplan: Slowly re-introduce all the elements that made the original 1942 a varied and fun experience, but over the course of several decades so it doesn’t look like they’re admitting that every subsequent title has lacked crucial gameplay elements.

After enjoying BF3 for what it is, but being rather disappointed it was such a step back from BF2/BF2042 as a Battlefield game, and being really really cynical of stupid community splitting DLC, I’ll probably keep something of a wide berth of BF4.

It better be the true sequel to BF2 or else in my mind the Battlefield franchise has become corrupt and can die for all I care. I’m already so sick and tired of EA and giving them my money. I even wrote to DICE telling them to offer BF4 on Steam because EA is ruining PC gaming.

Origin integration is very unobtrusive in BF3. Now the BattleLog thing took some getting used to, and I admit I prefer games with an offline singleplayer mode, but as for multiplayer, I really got to enjoy BattleLog over what Call of Duty ever offered (for PC).

I understand EA’s decision to push Origin for games it helps produce with its own funding. If they used Steam, they’d have to give a fairly high % of the profits to Valve — with Origin, they don’t. In an ideal world, they would give a higher % to the developers, as they saved money with this decision, but I doubt that happens.

Ultimately, I don’t want all developers strong armed into the world of Valve’s %-cut only because people don’t buy games from other sources. So while Steam is a very comfortable platform, I understand Origin’s place in the world. As always, DRM-free rules, though I can imagine with such a big game like Battlefield some content delivery platform might be a lot better than none, just like Bohemia Interactive said.

Arma goes on Steam, BF4 goes on Origin, other games go DRM-free. As for me, I’ll buy the one game that’s good, not just the Steam one.

I’m not really sure, but I’d like to think they do. Then again EA probably owns DICE for the next 6 years, that’s probably why we’re getting BF4 less than 2 years after the release of BF3. I just hope this franchise isn’t completely ruined by the large corporations that rush content.

Isn’t it EA that made the launch, day one DLC, 4 more DLC packs, wash, rinse, repeat cycle famous? Can you really say this is better than a sequel being a proper sequel instead of PC games being turned into Console remakes or rehashes?

I’m actually hoping it doesn’t have planes. The jets in BF3 not only look and feel ridiculous flying around at their incredible low speeds, but also play such a small part in the battles that they might as well not exist. Helicopters however are a perfect fit.

Unless of course BF4 is going to take place on a much larger scale, I say take them out.

All the air in BF3 feels ridiculously slow, not just the jets. If you played BF2 then you’d know where I was coming from. On a side note, I commented on the videos saying, “such a lame tease, extremely lame and boring” – and my comments were never approved as far as I know.

Did they? Hmm, the 533,646 times viewed thread over at the Bit Tech forums (where I usually ‘hang’) seems to suggest otherwise.

I know its ‘cool’ to hate on EA games on indie gaming sites or if you are a hardcore PC gamer but I can’t help but feel that a lot of people feel they can’t enjoy the game as a ‘game’ because it interferes with their hipster identity.

Sure, its not perfect, and there are things I would improve, but it remains the single most exhilarating gaming experience I’ve ever encountered, with a wonderful pace, good depth of tactics, teamplay, vehicular combat, glorious visuals, fantastic sound, 64 player battles, a good selection of multiplayer maps, game modes and classes that cater for every taste and has been very well supported over the last 18 months by the various DLC packs.

If you don’t like it for one reason or another then that of course is of course up to you, but the fact is, that there are possibly millions of people out there that really, really do.

I know its going against the grain here at RPS, but I, and many, many others are eagerly anticipating Battlefield 4. Bring it on!

Yes agreed all that is true, simply because that is the original successful ingredients that make the Battlefield series the best choice for all out war in every respect.

Even though BF2 had it’s problems especially with hit detection and guns that hardly ever shot where your gun sight was aimed. It did do a hell of a lot right, and it was a first for PC games.

The one thing I think BF3 really got perfect was the graphics and animation as well as hit detection (vast improvement on BF2). The problem is that they ruined the air combat completely. Jets no longer have bombs, and choppers can no longer barrel roll. We all know a Boeing AH-64 Apache Longbow can barrel roll all day long without a problem. Why isn’t this the case with the smaller AH-1Z in BF3? You try a barrel roll in BF3 and your suddenly a dive bombing chopper, that accomplishes nothing. The intense chopper vs chopper battles are no more.

Most of the gear that comes by default in BF2 are replaced with a leveling tier and then turn out to be completely different (mouse movement steering instead of click steering rather than click steering).

I haven’t even mentioned the Commander aspect completely removed. Then again it was said that PC was the main focus on BF3 and then of course it was learned too late that this wasn’t true, it was consoles. More often than not we’ve been fed lies all for hype.

Now that they have lined their wallets with our cash I hope they don’t think that formula is going to keep working.

Then again, Bad Company 2 wasn’t that bad of a game, then they turned BF3 into Bad Company 3. Instead of just calling it Bad Company 3 it replaced the true sequel to BF2.

First positive comment is so deep down? Wow. People sure have their pitchforks out today. I quite like BF3, having liked the previous ones too.

Though I must admit I don’t know what to add to BF4 in order for me to buy it. It’s way too soon, I’m still enjoying all the variations in the DLC packs in BF3. I mean the major tweak would be to limit the sheer usefulness of the Assault class, but that’s just a balance thing, I’m not going to buy a full game just because you didn’t balance the previous one that well. And improving graphics on a meaningful level, so soon after BF3? I doubt that’ll happen.

So what is left? What can BF4 offer us — people that actually like BF3? Feel free to hypothesize, I’d like to hear that. (I am quite sure Dice can’t please people that hate Origin/Battlelog/BF3.)

More of the stuff from BF1942 would be cool. Don’t be afraid to make a game that sometimes has one side dominating where no one can get out of base on the other side. Let players drive air craft carriers. Let me fly prone on planes’ wings!

BF3 was great fun. Way better than blops2. However, Bad Company 2 (in ones humble opinion) is the best online shooter that has ever been. There are no maps that compare to the likes of Panama Canal or Arica Harbour (conquest modes). A pure joy.

I was so hoping DICE would have made BC3 before BF4. Hey ho. I’m sure it will be excellent (except for day one server issues).

Yeah, Arica Harbour and Panama Canal were so good! I have to say though, there are a few BF3 maps that I love just as much, namely Caspian Border (taking D on the hill will never get boring), Marqaz Monument, Azadi Palace, and of course Strike at Karkand.

I’ve also had many a fantastic moment on Operation Firestorm, Alborz Mountains and Kharg Island and Noshar Canals too.

Think there are 28 multiplayer maps now – mighty impressive a good amount of variation, even if the close quarters stuff isn’t really up my street.

Oh wow, boats… not that we already had them in 1942… now they’ll probably tell us that this is brand spanking new… I puked. I agree with many people here, Bad Company 2 was the most fun of all besides 1942, Vietnam and BF2. I should play the game again soon, before the servers are all empty. I can’t believe they toned down destructibility instead of improving it in BF3. I’m still at level 22 and played about 10 hours even though I got a Premium Account for testing purposes. Meh…

Anyone remember Electronic Talking Battleship? When you first started it up it said “Prepare for battle!”

And I agree these teasers and the slogan are terrible. Then again I really don’t expect any better from EA right now. Think I may actually opt-out of this whole ordeal. I have plenty of back-logged games to play, as well as an aging PC since funds are tight.

One day the scientists behind EA will come out of hiding and announce to the world that it was all just a sociological experiment. After failed attempts to physically combine sheep and people they resorted to a more subtle mental approach to convince people they are indeed sheep.

Being a naval architect, I can tell you that is nowhere near a modern propeller design. The hub has no fairing at all. The drive sprocket on the tank treads also looks rather old. So, what do we think? Korean War?

Well that’s an interesting idea. A Korean War shooter would actually be pretty novel (and currently at least, topical!), but I would be incredibly shocked if they took such a bold step.

That said, some of the other promotional material has already depicted infantry dressed in clearly modern uniforms and carrying distinctly modern weapons. It’s more likely that whoever made the trailers didn’t know or care about the minute details of efficient propeller design.

Given that the carrier scene in BF3 was one of only two remotely accurate depictions of ships in modern shooters, I’d say DICE devs actually do a surprisingly good job of making things accurate. Whatever slob does their prettied up teasers clearly doesn’t care. I’d really love a Korean War shooter, though.

I thought information had already been leaked stating that it would definitely include China / PLA. I’m hoping that means it’s a true BF2 sequel done right. I’ve never enjoyed anything more than BF2 all out war.

I love all the people who are hating on Battlefield in the comments, there is no reason at all for it. Some people don’t realize what really goes into a game, it’s hard work. The person who wrote this article is extremely stupid, the article was extremely bad and sloppy, the guy shouldn’t be allowed to write his name let alone a review on something he doesn’t give a shit about, which you can totally tell. Another one in the bucket for the douches of internet land!

There is plenty reason for it. Turning BF2’s sequel into something entirely different is not a sequel at all. BF3 is more like a dumbed down version of BC2 with a graphics overhaul with some jets added to the mix.

On a side note I think this article is right on. 15 second trailers with no information at all is a waste of time, and a horrible way to tease.